Low-noise low-emission crystal oscillator and method thereof

ABSTRACT

A crystal oscillator includes an inverter configured to receive a first voltage at a first node and output a second voltage at a second node, a stacked-diode feedback network inserted between the first node and the second node, a waveform shaper configured to couple the second node to a third node in accordance with the first voltage, a crystal inserted between a fourth node and a fifth node, wherein the fourth node is coupled to the third node, and the fifth node is coupled to the first node, a first shunt capacitor inserted between the fourth node and a ground node, and a second shunt capacitor inserted between the fifth node to and the ground node.

The present application is a continuation in part of U.S. applicationSer. No. 16/794,338, filed Feb. 19, 2020.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure generally relates to crystal oscillators, andmore particular to crystal oscillators having low noise and lowemissions.

Description of Related Art

As shown in FIG. 1, a crystal oscillator 100 comprises: an inverter 110configured to receive a voltage V_(A) at node 101 and output a voltageV_(A) at node 102; a self-biasing feedback resistor 130 inserted betweennode 102 and node 101; a first optional resistor 170 inserted betweennode 102 and node 103; a second optional resistor 160 inserted betweennode 104 and node 101; and a resonant tank 180 comprising a crystal 120inserted between node 103 and node 104, a first shunt capacitor 150configured to shunt a voltage V_(C) at node 103 to ground, and a secondshunt capacitor 140 configured to shunt a voltage V_(D) to ground. Whenthe first optional resistor 170 is not used, it is replaced by a shortcircuit. Likewise, when the second optional resistor 160 is not used, itis replaced by a short circuit. In an embodiment, inverter 110,self-biasing feedback resistor 130, the first optional resistor 170, andthe second optional resistor 160 are integrated as an integrated circuitfabricated on a semiconductor substrate and packaged using asemiconductor package, while the resonant tank 180 is an externalnetwork. Crystal oscillator 100 is widely used in the prior art and thusnot described in detail here.

One issue manifested in a conventional crystal oscillator 100 is theself-biasing feedback resistor 130 is usually a significant noisecontributor and can adversely degrade a performance. Without theself-biasing feedback resistor 130, however, crystal oscillator 100might fail to oscillate. Another issue is manifested in a waveform ofvoltage V_(C) that is close to a square wave that contain richharmonics, and it usually leads to undesired high-frequency emissions.In U.S. Pat. No. 10,291,180 to Lin, Lin teaches a crystal oscillatorthat can alleviate the noise of the self-biasing feedback resistor 130but does not address the emission issue.

What is desired is a crystal oscillator that has low noise and lowemissions.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THIS DISCLOSURE

In an embodiment, a crystal oscillator comprises: an inverter configuredto receive a first voltage at a first node and output a second voltageat a second node; a feedback network inserted between the first node andthe second node, the feedback network comprising a parallel connectionof a first branch and a second branch, the first branch comprising afirst diode and a second diode stacked up in a forward direction, thesecond branch comprising a third diode and a fourth diode stacked up ina reverse direction; a waveform shaper configured to couple the secondnode to a third node, the waveform shaper comprising a parallelconnection of a coupling resistor, an NMOS transistor, and a PMOStransistor; a crystal inserted between a fourth node and a fifth node,wherein the fourth node is coupled to the third node, and the fifth nodeis coupled to the first node; a first shunt capacitor inserted betweenthe fourth node and a ground node; and a second shunt capacitor insertedbetween the fifth node to and the ground node.

In an embodiment, a method comprises: incorporating an inverter toamplify a first voltage at a first node into a second voltage at asecond node; inserting a waveform shaper between the second node and athird node, wherein the waveform shaper comprises a parallel connectionof a resistor, an NMOS (n-channel metal oxide semiconductor) transistor,and a PMOS (p-channel metal oxide semiconductor) transistor; inserting acrystal between a fourth node and a fifth node, wherein the fourth nodeis coupled to the third node, and the fifth node is coupled to the firstnode; inserting a first shunt capacitor between the fourth node and aground node; inserting a second shunt capacitor between the fifth nodeand the ground node; and inserting a feedback network between the secondnode and the first node, wherein the feedback network comprises aparallel connection of a first branch and a second branch, the firstbranch comprising a first diode and a second diode stacked in a forwarddirection, the second branch comprising a third diode and fourth diodestacked in a reverse direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a prior art crystal oscillator.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a crystal oscillator in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an inverter.

FIG. 4 shows a simulation waveform of the crystal oscillator of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram of a method in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is directed to crystal oscillator. While thespecification describes several example embodiments of the disclosureconsidered favorable modes of practicing the disclosure, it should beunderstood that the disclosure can be implemented in many ways and isnot limited to the particular examples described below or to theparticular manner in which any features of such examples areimplemented. In other instances, well-known details are not shown ordescribed to avoid obscuring aspects of the disclosure.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art understand terms and basic conceptsrelated to microelectronics that are used in this disclosure, such as“CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor),” “PMOS (P-channel metaloxide semiconductor) transistor,” “NMOS (N-channel metal oxidesemiconductor) transistor,” “node,” “ground,” “voltage,” “frequency,”“phase,” “resonant tank,” “crystal,” and “inverter.” Terms and basicconcepts like these are well known and understood to those of ordinaryskill in the art and thus will not be explained in detail here.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can recognize symbols of capacitor,resistor, diode, ground, and can recognize a MOS (metal-oxidesemiconductor) transistor symbol, for both PMOS transistors and NMOStransistors, and identify the “source,” the “gate,” and the “drain”terminals thereof. Those of ordinary skills in the art can readschematics of a circuit comprising capacitors, resistors, diodes, NMOStransistors, and PMOS transistors, and do not need a verbose descriptionabout how one circuit element connects with another in the schematics.Those of ordinary skills in the art also understand units such as MHz(mega-Hertz), micron (μm), nanometer (nm), and pico-Farad (pF).

This disclosure is disclosed in an engineering sense. For instance, “Ais equal to B” means “a difference between A and B is smaller than anengineering tolerance.”

Throughout this disclosure, “V_(DD)” denotes a power supply node.

A schematic diagram of a crystal oscillator 200 in accordance anembodiment of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 2. Crystaloscillator 200 comprises: an inverter 210 configured to receive a firstvoltage V₁ at a first node 201 and output a second voltage V₂ at asecond node 202; a feedback network 220 inserted between the first node201 and the second node 202, wherein the feedback network 220 comprisesa parallel connection of a first branch and a second branch, the firstbranch comprising a first diode 221 and a second diode 222 stacked in aforward direction, the second branch comprising a third diode 223 and afourth diode 224 stacked in a reverse direction; a waveform shaper 240configured to receive the second voltage V₂ at a second node 202 andoutput a third voltage V₃ at a third node 203; a first optional resistor251 inserted between the third node 203 and a fourth node 204; a secondoptional resistor 252 inserted between a fifth node 205 and the firstnode 201; and a resonant tank 230 comprising a crystal 233 insertedbetween the fourth node 204 and the fifth node 205, a first shuntcapacitor 231 configured to shunt a fourth voltage V₄ at the fourth node204 to ground, and a second shunt capacitor 232 configured to shunt afifth voltage V₅ at the fifth node 205 to ground. The first (second)optional resistor 251 (252) is said to be optional, because it can be ofzero-Ohm resistance and becomes a short circuit at the discretion of acircuit designer. Inverter 210 is configured to provide a gain needed tosustain an oscillation. Resonant tank 230 is configured to determine anoscillation frequency, at which the resonant tank 230 provides anapproximately 180-degree phase shift that is needed to satisfy anoscillation condition. An output of the oscillation can be tapped fromeither V₁ at the first node 201 or V₂ at the second node 202. The firstoptional resistor 251 can be used to reduce a driving level of thecrystal 233 to avoid a large oscillation signal damaging the crystal233. The second optional resistor 252 is used to protect the inverter210 in case of an electrostatic discharge event.

In an embodiment, the four diodes 221, 222, 223, and 224 areinstantiated from the same diode device that has a threshold voltageV_(th), wherein the diode device is turned off when a voltage across thediode device is below the threshold voltage V_(th) and is turned on whenthe voltage across the diode device is above the threshold voltageV_(th). Let a trip point of inverter 210 be V_(M). (The concept of “trippoint” is well understood by those of ordinary skills in the art andthus not explained in detail here). Diodes 221 and 222 are turned onwhen V₁-V₂ is above 2V_(th) (the factor of two is due to the stack-up oftwo diodes) and turned off otherwise. Diodes 223 and 224 are turned onwhen V₁-V₂ is below −2V_(th) (the factor of two is due to the stack-upof two diodes) and turned off otherwise. Therefore, the feedback network220 is turned on and conducting current and thus contributing noise onlywhen |V₁-V₂| exceeds twice the threshold voltage V_(th). However,crystal oscillator 200 is most susceptible to noise when the oscillationoutput is small, i.e. |V₁-V_(M)| is small, and incidentally |V₂-V_(M)|and |V₁-V₂| are also small, but when that occurs the feedback network220 is turned off. Therefore, the feedback network 220 contributesalmost no noise when the crystal oscillator 200 is most susceptible tonoise and contributes noise only when |V₁-V₂| is large and the crystaloscillator 200 is relatively immune to noise. This way, crystaloscillator 200 can have a better performance than the prior art crystaloscillator 100 of FIG. 1.

There is an issue, however, caused by the feedback network 220: thesecond voltage V₂ encounters an abrupt hindrance when V₁-V₂ rises above2V_(th) or falls below −2V_(th), due to a sudden turn-on of the feedbacknetwork 220, and this causes a slight kink in a waveform of the secondvoltage V₂. To alleviate this issue, the waveform shaper 240 isintroduced. Waveform shaper 240 comprises a parallel connection of acoupling resistor 243, an NMOS transistor 241 controlled by the firstvoltage V₁, and a PMOS transistor 242 also controlled by the firstvoltage V₁. When |V₁-V_(M)| is mall, |V₂-V_(M)| is also small, NMOStransistor 241 and PMOS transistor 242 are turned off, an overallresistance of the waveform shaper 240 is equal to a resistance of thecoupling resistor 243. When V₁ is higher (lower) than V_(M) by a certainamount, NMOS transistor 241 (PMOS transistor 242) is turned on, causingthe overall resistance of the waveform shaper 240 to be smaller than theresistance of the coupling resistor 243. As a result, the waveformshaper 240 has a higher overall resistance that causes the third voltageV₃ to have a larger delay from the second voltage V₂ when |V₁-V_(M)| issmall, and has a lower overall resistance that causes the third voltageV₃ to have a smaller delay from the second voltage V₂ when |V₁-V_(M)| islarge. This causes the third voltage V₃ to have a moderatesmall-to-large signal transition and thus alleviate the issue of theslight kink in the waveform of the second voltage V₂. This way,high-frequency harmonics are suppressed in the third voltage V₃, and anundesired emission is alleviated.

In an alternative embodiment not shown in figure, the gate of NMOStransistor 241 is connected to “V_(DD)” (a power supply node) instead ofto the first node 201, and the gate of PMOS transistor 242 is connectedto ground instead of to the first node 201. This alternative embodimentstill works but is not as effective in alleviating the undesiredemission, as an overall resistance of the waveform shaper does notadjust effectively in accordance with the oscillation signal.

A schematic diagram of inverter 210 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure is shown in FIG. 3. Inverter 210 comprises anNMOS transistor MN and a PMOS transistor MP. Inverter 210 is wellunderstood by those of ordinary skills in the art and thus not describedin detail here.

By way of example but not limitation: V_(DD) is 1.05V; width and lengthof NMOS transistor MN are 400 μm and 600 nm, respectively; width andlength of PMOS transistor MP are 540 μm and 600 nm, respectively; thecoupling resistor 243 is 200 Ohm; width and length of NMOS transistor241 are 120 μm and 30 nm, respectively; width and length of PMOStransistor 242 are 120 μm and 30 nm, respectively; crystal 233 has aresonant frequency of 40 MHz; the first shunt capacitor 231 and thesecond shunt capacitor 232 are both 15 pF; the first optional resistor251 is 40 Ohm; the second optional resistor 252 is 40 Ohm; the fourdiodes 221, 222, 223, and 224 are all embodied by a PMOS transistorconfigured in a diode-connected topology, wherein the width and lengthof the PMOS transistor are 1600 μm and 60 nm, respectively. A MOS (metaloxide semiconductor) transistor, either an NMOS transistor or a PMOStransistor, is said to be configured in a diode-connected topology if agate terminal and a drain terminal of the MOS transistor are directlytied together. The description of “a MOS transistor configured in adiode-connected topology can be used to embody a diode” is wellunderstood to those of ordinary skill in the art and thus not describedin detail here. In an alternative embodiment, the four diodes 221, 222,223, and 224 are all embodied by an NMOS transistor configured in adiode-connected topology.

A simulation waveform of V₁, V₂, and V₃ over one oscillation cycle isshown in FIG. 4. As shown, there is a first kink 401 in V₂ when V₁-V₂falls below −2V_(th) (here, V_(th) is approximately 260 mV), and asecond kink 402 when V₁-V₂ rises above 2V_(th). Thanks to the waveformshaper 240, there are no kinks in the waveform of V₃, and high-frequencyharmonics are suppressed. This way, the emission issue is addressed.

As shown in a flow diagram 500 depicted in FIG. 5, a method comprises:(step 510) incorporating an inverter to amplify a first voltage at afirst node into a second voltage at a second node; (step 520) insertinga waveform shaper between the second node and a third node, wherein thewaveform shaper comprises a parallel connection of a resistor, an NMOS(n-channel metal oxide semiconductor) transistor, and a PMOS (p-channelmetal oxide semiconductor) transistor; (step 530) inserting a firstoptional resistor between the third node and a fourth node; (step 540)inserting a second optional resistor between the first node and a fifthnode; (step 550) inserting a crystal between the fourth node and thefifth node; (step 560) inserting a first shunt capacitor between thefourth node and a ground node; (step 570) inserting a second shuntcapacitor between the fifth node and the ground node; and (step 580)inserting a feedback network between the second node and the first node,wherein the feedback network comprises a parallel connection of a firstbranch and a second branch, the first branch comprising a first diodeand a second diode stacked in a forward direction, the second branchcomprising a third diode and fourth diode stacked in a reversedirection.

Compared to the prior art crustal oscillator 100 of FIG. 1, crystaloscillator 200 has two innovative features: first, the feedback network220 replaces the self-biasing feedback resistor 130; second, thewaveform shaper 240 is added. A purpose of the feedback network 220 isto allow the crystal oscillator 200 to have a low noise, while a purposeof the waveform shaper 240 is to reduce a harmonic content of an outputand thus allow the crystal oscillator to have a low emission. In acombination of using the feedback network 220 and the waveform shaper240, crystal oscillator 200 can be a low-noise and low-emission crystaloscillator. However, if an application only requires a low noise, butnot a low emission, waveform shaper 240 can be removed (and the secondnode 202 and the third node 203 are shorted). If an application onlyrequires a low emission but not a low noise, the feedback network 220can be removed and replaced with a self-biasing feedback resistor (justlike the prior art self-biasing feedback resistor 130). This way, acomplexity of the crystal oscillator 200 can be reduced while stillmeeting a requirement set by the application.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should not be construed as limited only by the metes andbounds of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A crystal oscillator comprising: an inverterconfigured to receive a first voltage at a first node and output asecond voltage at a second node; a feedback network inserted between thefirst node and the second node, the feedback network comprising aparallel connection of a first branch and a second branch, the firstbranch comprising a first diode and a second diode stacked up in aforward direction, the second branch comprising a third diode and afourth diode stacked up in a reverse direction; a crystal insertedbetween a fourth node and a fifth node, wherein the fourth node iscoupled to the second node, and the fifth node is coupled to the firstnode; a first shunt capacitor inserted between the fourth node and aground node; and a second shunt capacitor inserted between the fifthnode to and the ground node.
 2. The crystal oscillator of claim 1,wherein the crystal oscillator further comprises: a first optionalresistor inserted between the second node and the fourth node; a secondoptional resistor inserted between the fifth node and the first node. 3.The crystal oscillator of claim 1, wherein each of the first diode, thesecond diode, the third diode, and the fourth diode is embodied by a MOS(metal oxide semiconductor) transistor configured in a diode-connectedtopology.
 4. The crystal oscillator of claim 1, wherein each of thefirst diode, the second diode, the third diode, and the fourth diode isembodied by a PMOS transistor configured in a diode-connected topology.5. The crystal oscillator of claim 1, wherein each of the first diode,the second diode, the third diode, and the fourth diode is embodied byan NMOS transistor configured in a diode-connected topology.
 6. Acrystal oscillator comprising: an inverter configured to receive a firstvoltage at a first node and output a second voltage at a second node; afeedback resistor inserted between the first node and the second node; awaveform shaper configured to couple the second node to a third node inaccordance with the first voltage, the waveform shaper comprising aparallel connection of a coupling resistor, an NMOS (n-channel metaloxide semiconductor) transistor, and a PMOS (p-channel metal oxidesemiconductor) transistor; a crystal inserted between a fourth node anda fifth node, wherein the fourth node is coupled to the third node, andthe fifth node is coupled to the first node; a first shunt capacitorinserted between the fourth node and a ground node; and a second shuntcapacitor inserted between the fifth node to and the ground node.
 7. Thecrystal oscillator of claim 6, wherein the crystal oscillator furthercomprises: a first optional resistor inserted between the third node andthe fourth node; a second optional resistor inserted between the fifthnode and the first node.
 8. The crystal oscillator of claim 6, whereinthe NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor are controlled by the firstvoltage.
 9. A method comprising: incorporating an inverter to amplify afirst voltage at a first node into a second voltage at a second node;inserting a crystal between a fourth node and a fifth node, wherein thefourth node is coupled to the second node, and the fifth node is coupledto the first node; inserting a first shunt capacitor between the fourthnode and a ground node; inserting a second shunt capacitor between thefifth node and the ground node; and inserting a feedback network betweenthe second node and the first node, wherein the feedback networkcomprises a parallel connection of a first branch and a second branch,the first branch comprising a first diode and a second diode stacked ina forward direction, the second branch comprising a third diode andfourth diode stacked in a reverse direction.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the method further comprises: inserting a first optionalresistor between the second node and the fourth node; inserting a secondoptional resistor between the first node and the fifth node.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein each of the first diode, the second diode,the third diode, and the fourth diode is embodied by a MOS (metal oxidesemiconductor) transistor configured in a diode-connected topology. 12.The method of claim 9, wherein each of the first diode, the seconddiode, the third diode, and the fourth diode is embodied by a PMOStransistor configured in a diode-connected topology.
 13. The method ofclaim 9, wherein each of the first diode, the second diode, the thirddiode, and the fourth diode is embodied by an NMOS transistor configuredin a diode-connected topology.